Page 161 of The Never List
I blink a couple of times, turning slowly toward where I saw the movement, certain I’m imagining things.
One step, then two—
There it is again, just behind the statue of Evaluna.
My heart stutters in my chest.
The Fader from earlier. They didn’t jump over the balcony like I thought.
I should call for my mates, but I don’t want to give away that I see them—
The Fader takes off.
Shit!They spotted me.
No time to call for my mates. I race after them.
The other Faders called this oneboss, and they arefast, but I use my wind power to propel me, catching up in a matter of breaths.
I lunge, hoping to subdue them so we can question a Fader like we’ve been trying to for months now—who better than the boss to capture so we can finally understand what their motivations are?
They dodge my advance with a fluid grace that has apprehension bursting on the back of my neck. I don’t havetime to analyze this unease, not when the Fader hurls blade after blade at me, soaring through the air, aimed at my throat and missing by mereinches.
I shift my stance, ducking and dodging and pursuing as the Fader keeps evading my every move while working their way across the balcony, hunting for a quick escape.
The breath burns in my lungs, my body and mind exhausted from the Athanry, from dying and coming back, all of it. But I finally get close enough to land a punch.
A feminine groan slips past the Fader’s lips as I move to grab her wrist—
She ducks away from my touch, bending almost in half as she slips to the floor.
Icy fear bursts beneath my skin, some buried instinctscreamingat me.
She lands a kick to my gut that forces the air from my lungs so fast I see stars. I double over, and she takes the opportunity to run in the opposite direction, toward the edge of the balcony that hangs over the temple’s stairs far below.
I gather my breath in forced heaves.
I can’t lose this Fader.
We have to know how to stop these people.
She’s almost at the edge of the balcony.
My mates are going to kill me for this.
I wrap wind around myself, spiraling for her so fast that I plow into her and we crash over the railing—
And fall through the air.
Panic makes my heart skip as the free fall takes us. And all the while, the Fader struggles in my grasp like she can slip away and land safely on her feet.
Instinct takes over, and I slow our descent with mypower, landing us on the temple stairs in a tangled heap.
I still have a good hold on her, her back to my chest, my arm firmly around her neck as I haul us to standing—
One move, and she slips out of my grasp like she’s made of nothing but smoke, whirling on her heels to face me, dipping a little as she does.
My heart stops dead in my chest.
